Middle Child Syndrome (MCS)
by asasasssss
Summary: Middle Child Syndrome is when a child feels left out and is wanting attention. In a normal day in the Tracy household, it is John that is affected. (But normal never happens in the Tracy household). But there was a time when Virgil was affected. (One-shot)


_MCS -Middle Child Syndrome_

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 ** _[Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Everything belongs to their rightful owners.]_**

 _(Ages: Scott 7, John 6, Virgil 4, Gordon 20 months and Alan 8 months.)_

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John was normally the member of the Tracy clan to be forgotten with him being the quietest of them all. But after an event at school John has broken his arm and now shares the same amount of attention as eight month old Alan. Scott is older so he knows how to ask for attention and when is the right time to get it. Gordon is going through the age where everything he does is cute. Alan is the youngest so naturally he is the one that is fussed over the most. Virgil floats around and has more recently started day care, so he has been praised by both his mother and father. But after John had broken his arm, Virgil has tossed away like when little Alan loses interest in a toy.

It is currently the weekend, Saturday to be exact. Scott has a soccer game do Jeff has been running around getting himself and the oldest Tracy ready for the game. Lucille had just feed Alan, checked John over and is getting Gordon changed. Virgil was left to his own devices this morning. No one really gave him any noticed this morning, no one even said good morning. Though that he did feel a little left out he understood that Scott, John, Gordon and wee little Alan needed the attention more.

"Dad!" Virgil called out as Jeff was doing up Scott's boots.

"Yes, Virgil." Jeff said in an annoyed tone as he was still doing up Scott's boots.

"Can I show you what Ms. Peters just showed me?" Virgil said as he looked up at his father in pure delight.

"Sorry Virg, maybe so other time." Jeff sighed.

"But why?" Virgil said as he questioned his father. _'If he is taking Scott to soccer, why can't he listen to my new song?'_ Virgil thought to himself.

"I have to take Scott to soccer," Jeff said. "And then I promised John that I would go through a few constellations later today for a project for school."

"Oh, okay then." Virgil said disappointment evident in his voice.

The day past on with little to no events. Jeff and Scott were still out at soccer, Alan had hit Gordon on the head with a plastic toy, Gordon spilt his milk and John's casted arm was itchy. Virgil just sat in his room playing with the toys he had gotten for his birthday a few months ago.

"Mum!" Virgil called out as he was walking to the kitchen.

"Yes Virg?" Lucille called back from in the kitchen where she was feeding Alan.

"Can I show you what Tim did the other day?!" Virgil said beaming up to his mother. Virgil got up on a bar-stool and was about to jump off -like Tim did.

"Virgil!" Lucille exclaimed as she rushed over to Virgil to get him off the bar-stool. "You could fall and hurt your arm like Johnny did."

Virgil grumbled and walked away frowning. As Virgil walked into his bedroom he cocked his head to the side, he was wondering why his mother and father haven't paid attention to him all day. He has definitely not done anything bad. Sure he was going to jump off the bar stool, but Tim had done it at the school playground and didn't get caught by the teachers, so why did he get in trouble at home.

The rest of the morning carried on as normal as it could possibly be in the Tracy household. But apparently, according to his mother, Gordon trying to put the cat in the toilet was funny and cute. Virgil sat up in his room and talked to Chubby, his stuffed teddy bear.

"Why doesn't mummy and daddy like me today?" Virgil wondered to Chubby. "I haven't done anything bad." Cubby just stared back at Virgil. "Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't of been on the chair." Virgil admitted to his stuffed toy. Virgil was still unsure of what to do, so he sat in his room and started to play with his cars and trucks.

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Dinner time had rolled around and everyone was at the table. Lucille and Jeff were talking to Scott for how he played well in soccer today. Gordon was making a mess with his potato and peas. Alan was playing with a plastic toy, as he had already had dinner and John was quickly eating his dinner because he was itching to read a new book that Jeff had brought him. And Virgil was sitting at the end, away from all the attention.

"John!" Lucille exclaimed as she saw John wolf down his dinner.

"Sorry mum." John said as a pea flew from his mouth and landed on the table.

"Ew Johnny!" Gordon exclaimed as he saw the pea fly across the table. Alan sat there clapping his hands and laughing at John. Lucille and Jeff soon joined in laughing. They thought that Gordon was adorable and cute. Scott just smiled and carried on eating his dinner. Virgil was sitting there and was wondering what was so funny. _'John spat something out . . . he should be in trouble.'_ Virgil thought to himself. Virgil wanted the attention so bad that he piled peas into his mouth and spat them out across the table. All the laughing stopped and everyone looked at Virgil.

Virgil was happy, he was finally getting the attention he wanted, Jeff and Lucille were finally paying attention to him, but more in a bad way.

"Virgil Tracy!" Jeff exclaimed as he saw what his middle child had done. Virgil lowered his head in shame, _'this isn't how it should work out.'_ Virgil thought to himself.

"Can you put your plate in the kitchen and go to your bedroom." Lucille said as she sighed. "And I will come up to talk to you."

"Okay." Virgil said as he got up and placed his plate on the bench.

Lucille saw her son walk up the stairs, she sighed and got up to follow her son. Jeff gave her a look and she sent on back saying 'I'll talk to you about it later.' She made her way up the stairs and into her sons room. She saw him laying on the bed with his head in the pillow. She hadn't had the slightest idea why Virgil acted in the way that he did. She couldn't help but notice that his shoulders were shaking, like he was crying.

"Hey Virg," Lucille said as he slowly and carefully came towards to Virgil. "What is the matter?" Lucille was hoping to find out what caused Virgil to act in the way he did at the dinner table. Normally he was well-behaved at the dinner table and wouldn't normally act up at the dinner table. She sat on the end of his bed and carefully rubbed her hand up his back to calm him down. Virgil slowly sat up and went into Lucille's lap.

"I'm sorry." Virgil said looking up at his mother,

"It's okay, but I don't want to see you do it again." Lucille sighed and carried on to rub his back. "Why did you do it Virg?"

"Because John did it." Virgil replied.

"John did it by accident." Lucille said, ' _there had to be another reason why he would act up like that'_ Lucille thought to herself.

"He didn't get into trouble!" Virgil exclaimed in a shushed voice.

"C'mon Virg, there has to be another reason." Lucille said to try and get the real reason why she son spat out peas.

"I wanted you and dad to talk to me!" Virgil cried into his mothers arms.

Bingo! Lucille had found the reason why he spat out peas on the table. He wanted attention from herself and Jeff, but with everything that had happened in the past week they hadn't paid much attention to Virgil. Lucille knew that she couldn't just promise to spend more time with him, as Alan and Gordon take up most of her time. But another idea came into her head.

"Hey Virg!" Lucille exclaimed to get his attention. "How about next weekend we all go out and we can let you chose where to go?" Lucille proposed.

"Yah! Can we go to the zoo?" Virgil asked.

"We can go where ever you want." Lucille smiled at him.

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After all the boys went to sleep, Jeff and Lucille were sitting on the couch talking with the remainder of the movie still playing in the background.

"What was wrong with Virgil?" Jeff asked.

"He just wanted attention." Lucille replied.

"Attention?" Jeff asked. He was confused, why would need attention.

"Yeah, he felt a little left out this whole week," Lucille started to explain, Jeff nodded his head in agreement. They had been a bit neglectful of Virgil. "I also promised that we might go on a family day out next weekend." Lucille continued to explain.

"Wait! Does that mean another trip to the zoo?" Jeff groaned.

Lucille laughed, "yes, yes it does."

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 ** _Author's Note:_** ** _Here is my first one-shot. I kinda pictured something like this happening in the Tracy household at some point. Trust me after being in a big family this is a common occurrence. If you didn't understand what middle child_ _s_ _yndrome is, it is when a child (mostly a middle child) craves attention from her/his parents and will thrown tantrums and do stupid things to get someones attention. I hoped you enjoyed this little one-shot_**

 ** _Have a FAB day_**

 ** _-Ashley :)_**


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